"Hope and optimism?"

$4.5 million worth!   Project leaders are Cornell's Andrew Chignell and Notre Dame's Samuel Newlands.

UPDATE:  Prof. Chignell writes:  "The question mark cracked me up…  It’s Kantian hope (me) and Leibnizean optimism (Sam) of course!  We can’t let the politicians and pop-business writers co-opt these concepts altogether…  That said, the grant will also sponsor substantial work on pessimism, despair, and other ‘related traits.’"